Firstly, let me get one thing straight – shoplifting is theft and should be treated as a crime.

This plague on modern retailing is perpetrated by all age groups and all classes of society; throughout the course of my retail career I experienced shoplifting from children as young as 4 all the way up to a 93 year old (and none of the thieves I caught had ever been caught stealing from shops before).

Channel 4’s Secrets of the Shoplifters illustrates the real challenge faced by shop owners and their employees on a daily basis and is a must see programme.